A New Meaning
by Lord of Loli
Summary: And so the days went from black to white....with shades of gray in between. Two young ninjas may end up discovering what is really important in life from the one they least expect, each other. NH SS
1. Training

Story takes place after Sasuke "returns from Konoha", whenever that may be. Rookie 9 are all jounin, not much else has

changed. Hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or anything relating to the anime whatsoever.

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The sun beat down in simmering waves on a grassy hillside to the south of Konoha. Through the morning air, sounds of

clashing knives could be heard across the distance, across the wind faint sounds of yelling were also scattered throughout

the field.

A black blur flew past the trees with a roaring cry, leaping onto a branch and breathing a humongous fireball at an

unfortunate straw dummy.

The dummy didn't stand a chance.

A great blazing ball of fire, it shot into the air, where it was quickly met by yet another ninja, who kicked it, causing it

to fall like a flaming star and exploded into shreds.

Overall, the dummy was having a bad day.

Beads of sweat glistening on their foreheads, the two agile ninja leaped over to the dummy's unrecognizable carcass.

"Hmm..." mumbled Naruto.

"Hehe. Now I see why Gai has so much fun reciting his record against Kakashi. Score: Sasuke: 507-Naruto:004" grinned Sasuke.

"Damn it, that was such a cheap shot. I mean COME ON! Since when does straw hold up well at all against fire!?!" Naruto

complained.

"That was the point, dumbass." at this point Sasuke did a traditional anime-sweatdrop "Whoever could land the most damage on it would get to choose what mission we take on next."

Naruto sighed and threw up his hands in surrender.

"Whatever man...I'm going home to get some rest down. See ya later."

Sasuke leaned against the tree, smirking, as Naruto walked away, head down and grumbling.

"Oh, and Sasuke?"

"Yes?"

"Try not to make it another boring E-ranked failure Konohamaru-rated mission again, alright?"

Sasuke thought to himself for a second. Should I beat him up now, or should I wait for the mission to accidentally push him

off a bridge?

"Just kidding, just kidding!" Naruto smiled and waved. "As long as we dont have to rescue anyone's cat. I'd rather fight some bloodthirsty ninja than get scratched up by one of those monsters again."

Sasuke sighed and laid down on the hill. Sometimes, he admitted, Naruto could be alright.

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The village of Konoha.

Home of hundreds of ninja willing to give up their lives to defend their country. Home of a vast arsenal of thousands of

deadly techniques. Home to some of the deadliest jutsu in all of the shinobi world.

Also, according to one pervert sage, home to some of the most sexy women in the shinobi world.

Jiraiya giggled as he watched the hot springs from behind what he liked to call his "place of inspiration", where he was able to collect ideas for all his wonderful graphic novels. When a shinobi who knew Jiraiya, say Naruto, heard this description, they would snort and laugh so hard that they'd have to call for a good old Tsunade punch to snap them out of it. For the moment, anyway, the only thing Jiraiya was collecting was blood in his nose and stiffness in his...well, interpret that how you will.

After sitting their for several hours, the women finally got out of the springs and left for home. Jiraiya was a very

satisfied old man at that moment. Chuckling, he took up his scroll and got on his frog, and was about to leave when all of a sudden, Uchiha Sasuke, landed in

front of him, a very very EVIL expression on his face.

Here is a good description of what Jiraiya's thoughts were at this moment:

"Damn. He's not a girl. Contrary to what I previously believed."

Shortly followed by

"Wasn't Itachi bisexual? Well then there's a possibility..."

Shortly followed by

"What the hell is wrong with you, Jiraiya!"

Shortly followed by

"Why is he looking at me like that?"

Shortly followed by a gulp and a grimace as his eyes traveled down to the hand Sasuke was holding, showing him the several digital shots Sasuke had recently taken of him goggling at the ladies as they were taking their bath. This was an emergency, thought Jiraiya quickly. This could seriously mean some bad things for his latest series of novels. (Even though almost every ninja in the village knew he did it secretly anyway. So you kinda have to wonder why the women aren't catching on already. Or are they?)

"FINE you damn party pooper what the hell do you want!?!?" he yelled in annoyance.

Sasuke smirked, then replied with "I want a mission. A good mission so I can train, develop some new techniques, and improve my record against Fox-boy even more..

Naruto, unfortunately, is not easily satisfied. Refuse my demands or give me a crappy mission, and Icha Icha Paradise can say hello to the Konoha Lawyer Syndicate. I believe you're very familiar with them due in large part to last year's giant-ass toad slobbering half of the shinobi in the village while it was looking for cheese."

"Oh no you wouldn't."

"Oh yes i would."

"Screw you. Fine, I'll have one by tomorrow. Stop by in the morning to pick up your client. You'll be bodyguarding him as he travels through the Country of Grass. Damn fine women there too, I've heard. I was planning to take this one myself for that."

Sasuke recalled their very first actually worthwhile mission, in which they protected Tazuna from Zabuza and Haku. (The reason I

repeat this is in case the curse of the fillers accidentally made you forget this) That was the first mission Team 7 actually bonded in. Well, it was definitely worth a try.

"Sounds good to me. See ya tomorrow."

"Yeah, yeah, just don't blackmail me again please. Try asking Tsunade for a change."

Sasuke winced. He would rather face a pack of rabid, united fangirls on speed than spend a minute with Tsunade. Is there really a needed explanation as to why? The only one who was worse than Tsunade was Sakura, but due to her rabid fangirl complete obedience to Sasuke, he could merely throw a bone down a very, very, steep cliff and she'd dive on after it.

Reading his expression, Jiraiya laughed. "I absolutely agree."

Through the bushes, Tsunade was watching them, glaring. "He asks Jiraiya instead of me!?!?! This is drastic. It's time to call plan L into effect." The Godaime allowed an evil grin to flicker across her face before she disappeared into the bushes.

R&R


	2. The start of a mission

Enjoy.

Chapter 2

Sasuke got up with the morning sun, stretching his tired arms out, onyx eyes only half-open. He peered out the window at the awakening village outside. Already shinobi were beginning to report to the hokage building for missions and warfare strategies. He saw Konohamaru running through the street yelling with a magazine vendor chasing him, and he decided not to inquire.

As he was putting on his headband, he remembered his encounter with Jiraiya the evening before. He put on his sandals and walked outside, breathing in the cool fresh air.

As he walked towards the edge of the village, he noticed an unusual number of foreign feudal lords in the city. He thought this was rather unusual, but paid no real notice to it as he didn't care much for matters of state importance.

He reached the village gate and saw Jiraiya leaning against the doors.

"Here ya go, kid," said Jiraiya, handing him a scroll. "Nice easy mission, perfect to lighten up your average boring day! Although unfortunately there aren't any women there..." Sasuke rolled his eyes. Same old Jiraiya.

Naruto was snoring on the toad behind Jiraiya. Naruto, unlike Sasuke, was anything but an early bird, so for missions that required a head-start at dawn he was usually forced out of bed rather unhappily by an army of giant toads. He had begun to get used to it, accepting the fact that a Hokage would have to wake up early from time to time.

Sasuke went over and smacked him on the head. "Get up dobe, time to head out."

Naruto groaned and rolled off the toad. The toad, annoyed by the events of the day and the rather unagreeable blonde ninja, picked up a leg and started to do its business. Sasuke smirked.

Naruto shot up and out onto the road like greased lightning. "EEEUCHHH!!! Holy crap Jiraiya!!! Potty train these things once in a while, why don't ya!!!"

Jiraiya rolled his eyes and nodded to Sasuke. "Good luck." He jumped into the trees and was gone.

Sasuke unrolled the misison scroll and studied it carefully, Naruto peering at it over his shoulder.

"Aaah..the land of earth. I haven't been around there in a while. I mean, it's only been heard of in stupid filler episodes!"

"Well, the main thing to remember there is to avoid the locals. Rock Lee spent a night there once and they got him drunk in two minutes flat. Rock Lee plus drunk, as you know, is not a good combination. That incident almost caused a war between our countries.."

"Ha!" declared Naruto, grinning from ear-to-ear. "I'm nothing like Rock Lee!"

Sasuke assented. "Well, your haircut is definitely better."

Naruto groaned and started walking up the path. "Let's get started already! I'm sick and tired of just standing here!"

Examining the map again, Sasuke noted that the only way across the border to the village hidden in the rocks was a treacherous mountain pass. Luckily, Jiraiya had wrote in that there was supposed to be a reliable guide there who would be able to take them to their destination as well as keep them hidden from enemy ninja. One of the essential objectives was to make sure the target they were going to bodyguard had no potential enemy ninja, and if this was the case, eliminate them as soon as possible.

"Hmm...my guess would be we should head north and find this guide. I usually don't like to rely on people, but only a really stupid shinobi would walk into mountains full of enemy ninja without someone who knows the territory." He tucked the map into his back pocket.

Suddenly, they heard a cry coming from across the village. A huge dust cloud was moving closer and closer to the Konoha gate.

"Oh shit."

Naruto winced.

Coming closer, it was increasingly obvious that the dust cloud was not just a dust cloud, rather an inherently large amount of fangirls, all holding up signs similar in meaning to "MARRY ME SASUKE!"

"Well, we're off!" said Sasuke, groaning as he bolted into the trees.

Naruto sighed, and quickly followed.

Meanwhile, a Godaime looked through the branches of one of the surrounding trees with a pair of binoculars.

"Damn, that infernal fangirl crowd I hired didn't move fast enough or stealthily enough to get revenge on that fool Sasuke! I'll have him yet!" She laughed an evil cackle and disappeared into the trees.


End file.
